The Gardens of Singapore

I finally got to see Singapore, where Tom has spent over 6 weeks combined this year. Our first stop was the botanical gardens. The gardens were so much larger than I expected. It was an enormous public park with many trails and had a smaller orchid garden. We really enjoyed seeing so many different types of plants. The diversity, patterns, and color among the plants was truly amazing.

Our biggest surprise of the morning was when we rounded a corner and saw a big monitor lizard on the trail! I think the one we saw was a water monitor (Varanus salvator). They can grow up to 10.5 ft, but the one we saw was between 5-6 ft. Water monitors are great swimmers and will eat everything from fidh to crabs to snakes and rodents. After we got over the surprise of seeing him and noticed the size of his claws, we left him alone as he swam away. We also saw a swan, beautiful humming bird, and a few curious squirrels.